Boyfriend arrested in Houston after fatal Hialeah shooting
MIAMI - A man accused of fatally shooting his girlfriend in Hialeah was arrested in Houston alongside two others who police say helped him evade capture.
Elijah Clarke, 19, was taken into custody Tuesday by Houston police, two days after investigators say he shot 20-year-old Delilah Ruiz during an argument over money at her home on NW 63 Court Circle.
Clarke fled the scene in a black Lexus IS350 driven by his friend, Christopher Valdes, authorities said.
Ruiz was taken to Memorial Regional Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
Detectives arrested Valdes on Monday with help from Broward County deputies and Miramar police.
The next day, Houston police found Clarke with Rafael Torralba and Angelina Valledor, who were charged with hindering his capture.
Clarke faces a murder.
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Miami Herald
3 days ago
- Miami Herald
Driver shot by Miami cop near Bayfront facing 4 felonies, but judge sets low bond
The driver of a BMW shot by a Miami police officer while he was on the hood of the car outside a music festival last weekend was charged Thursday with four felonies and two misdemeanors — while he was recuperating in the hospital. But his bond was considerably less than expected after a judge denied a request from state prosecutors to keep the man behind bars. Menelek Emmanuel Clarke was being treated at Jackson Memorial Hospital with three bullet wounds when Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Mindy Glazer convened the Zoom hearing. She questioned probable cause in three of the charges, denied the state's request for pre-trial detention and set the shooting victim's bond for all the charges combined at $8,653. READ MORE: A Miami cop on car hood shot driver through windshield at music festival. Is it permitted? Clarke, 21, is facing charges of aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer, leaving the scene of an accident, fleeing and eluding law enforcement and resisting arrest with violence, all felonies. He's also been charged with failure to obey a police officer and reckless driving, both misdemeanors. When Glazer questioned three of the charges, including leaving the scene and fleeing and eluding, Clarke's attorney Michael Orenstein agreed, saying his client wasn't trying to get away from police. 'He was shot multiple times,' Orenstein told the judge. Clarke was shot inside his car on Biscayne Boulevard at Northeast Second Street early Sunday evening, just after the start of a Caribbean music festival at Bayfront Park called the Best of the Best. His mother had just gotten out of the car to meet family and get tickets. Clarke's sister was in the back seat during the shooting. She said her brother did not hit the officer intentionally and was slowly trying to turn past him. Cellphone video of the incident posted on YouTube and Only in Dade begins with Miami police officer Mauricio Delgado clinging to the car's hood, his weapon in his right hand pointed into the vehicle only inches from the front windshield. The car slowly makes its way north on Biscayne Boulevard and begins to turn west on Northeast Second Street, when Delgado fires at least three times. The vehicle stops directly in front of a Miami police car. Clarke jumps out of his car in a white shirt and jeans and walks quickly east toward the park, his hands going down to his waist, then up in the air as ordered. It doesn't appear as if he's injured. He obeys police commands to go to the ground, turns over and is handcuffed. Blood can be seen on the back of his shirt as an officer gets on top of him. Delgado was treated for minor injuries and released. Orenstein said Clarke was shot three times, in the right arm, his chest — which collapsed his lung — and in his thigh. Miami Police policy says officers should avoid firing at moving vehicles unless someone inside the vehicle — not the vehicle itself — poses a severe threat to the officer or anyone else. No weapon was found on Clarke. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating the shooting.
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Miami Herald
4 days ago
- Miami Herald
A Miami cop on car hood shot driver through windshield at music festival. Is it permitted?
Most law enforcement experts who watched the video of Miami Police Officer Mauricio Delgado lying on the hood of a car and shooting a music festival-goer through the front windshield say the officer was within his rights if he felt his life or others were in danger. But their observations come with a caveat: It's unclear exactly what led to Delgado lying face down on the hood of Menelek Emmanuel Clarke's black, two-door BMW, the officer's weapon almost pressed against the front windshield as the car crawled north on Biscayne Boulevard. Cellphone video taken from the scene outside the Caribbean music festival at Bayfront Park on Sunday night doesn't show the lead-up to the confrontation. The footage begins with Delgado on the car hood. And police haven't said if the officer activated his body worn camera — which is mandatory during interactions with the public, but not during traffic enforcement. READ MORE: Police officer shot driver outside music festival in Miami's Bayfront Park: officials 'I can't see what precipitated it, so I can't speculate,' said Dave Magnusson, a former high-ranking Miami police officer and El Portal police chief. 'What I can tell you is that the guy gets out of his car reaching for his waistband, he probably got lucky. He did then follow commands and was taken into custody.' Police say Delgado was one of four dozen officers working a shift directing traffic on the boulevard just outside the park during the Best of the Best music festival on Sunday. They say Clarke, 21, disobeyed an order to stop and drove at a slow pace into Delgado, who somehow ended up on vehicle's hood. Clarke's 17-year-old sister who was in the back seat, said the contact with the officer was accidental. They had just dropped their mother off who was to meet relatives with tickets to the concert, and they were looking for parking. Clarke, who records show lives in Broward County and was born in North Carolina, was shot several times and is recovering at Jackson Memorial's Ryder Trauma Center. Another law enforcement veteran who watched the video said the interaction raises questions. Chuck Wexler, executive director of Washington D.C.'s Police Executive Research Forum, said you'd need to review the officer's camera and surrounding surveillance video and piece together the facts to figure out exactly what happened. 'Sometimes it's a misunderstanding. It's hard to say at this point what justified the officer firing his weapon,' Wexler said. 'The video raises more questions than there are answers. You just don't know and it would be wrong to jump to conclusions.' Strict rules on firing into moving vehicle Miami police policy only allows officers to fire their weapons at a moving vehicle if deadly force is being used against the officer or another person by means other than the moving vehicle. Simply, unless someone inside Clarke's car was threatening Delgado harm, he should not have fired his weapon. 'The moving vehicle itself shall not presumptively constitute a threat that justifies an officer's use of deadly force. An officer threatened by an oncoming vehicle shall move out of its path instead of discharging a firearm at it or any of its occupants,' the policy states. 'The only exception is an act of terrorism where the vehicle is being used as a weapon.' The shooting at a vehicle policy was changed and tightened more than two decades ago by Miami Police Chief John Timoney. After the policy change, Miami Police went 22 months without an officer firing a weapon at a person. READ MORE: 'Law enforcement giant' John Timoney loses final battle to lung cancer Late Wednesday afternoon, Miami Police said they expect to charge Clarke with several crimes before the end of the week that include aggravated battery, leaving the scene of a crash, resisting arrest with violence and failure to obey a police command. And they still have not publicly released the name the officer who fired his weapon. Several law enforcement sources familiar with the incident confirmed to the Miami Herald the shooter was Delgado, who works the midnight shift in Allapattah and was working traffic duty the evening Clarke was shot. Several texts and calls to Miami's Fraternal Order of Police had not been returned as of late Wednesday. Clarke's sister Sherylann Clarke, who was in the car during the shooting, told Herald news partner WFOR Channel 4 that her brother did not hit Delgado intentionally. She said he was trying to maneuver around the officer when Delgado jumped in front of the car. READ MORE: Driver didn't mean to hit officer outside Miami music festival, sister says Clarke is represented by Hollywood defense attorney Michael Orenstein, who hasn't said much about the incident. Best of the Best goes bad Clarke was shot inside his car on Biscayne Boulevard at Northeast Second Street just after the yearly Caribbean music festival got underway. It was about 7:15 p.m. Most of the crowd estimated at 12,000 were in the park when Delgado ended up on the hood of Clarke's black BMW and opened fire. Cellphone video of the incident, which was posted on the Only in Dade website and on YouTube, begins with Clarke driving north on Biscayne and going past the crosswalk at Second Street with Delgado flat on his stomach on the hood in uniform. He's wearing a yellow vest and his weapon, in his right hand, is pointed inches from the windshield. As the car turned slowly west on Second Street, Delgado fires at least three shots, his legs sliding off the hood on the passenger front side of the car. A flash of the muzzle can be seen and the gunshots heard. The vehicle comes to a stop directly in front of a Miami police car. Bystanders are heard on the video asking what was happening. Clarke jumps out of his car in a white shirt and jeans and walks quickly east toward the park, his hands going down to his waist, then up in the air as ordered. He doesn't appear to be injured. He then obeys police commands to go to the ground, turns over and is handcuffed. Blood can be seen on the back of his shirt as an officer gets on top of him. Delgado was treated for minor injuries and released. Orenstein said Clarke was shot three times. He was hit in the right arm and chest, which exited through his back but caused a lung to collapse. And his attorney said Clarke was also shot in the bullet had not been removed as of Wednesday afternoon. Police officer stationed at hospital Orenstein, who is representing Clarke in an unrelated case in Broward County, said Wednesday that he's only seen the same social media videos as everyone else and that a Miami police officer has been stationed outside his client's hospital room at Jackson. 'At this point I don't know a lot of details and I don't believe my client committed those offenses,' Orenstein said. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is reviewing the shooting to determine if it was a criminal act. Miami Police will investigate the charges against Clarke, which are expected to be filed formally when he's released from the hospital. Miami Herald staff writer Devoun Cetoute contributed to this report.
Miami Herald
4 days ago
- Miami Herald
Scooter driver critical, passenger dead, after crashing on Florida Turnpike: FHP
A passenger on a scooter driving on Florida's Turnpike in Broward County Saturday died after becoming lodged underneath a van the small vehicle collided with Saturday afternoon, and the driver remains in critical condition, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. The crash happened shortly before 3 p.m. in the southbound lanes at mile marker 55, according to the FHP. The driver of the Yongfu scooter, whom troopers say is a 21-year-old man from Miami, was in the center lane and changed lanes into the path of a 2017 Ford Transit van driven by a 27-year-old man from Davie, FHP Lt. Indiana Miranda said. The front of the van hit the rear of the scooter, and both the scooter driver and passenger — as well as the scooter — were trapped beneath the moving vehicle, Miranda said. The van driver, who has not been named, pulled to the inside lane, where the passenger became dislodged, according to the FHP. The van driver pulled over to the shoulder with the scooter and driver still stuck underneath, Miranda said. Paramedics took the scooter driver, who has not been named, to Memorial Regional Hospital, where he remained in critical condition Wednesday, Miranda said. His passenger, who has also not been identified, died on the scene, according to the FHP. The van driver was not injured, Miranda said. Troopers are still investigating the crash. Driving a scooter with an engine smaller than 50 cubic centimeters is illegal. The size of the Yongfu involved in the crash was not immediately known.
